‘Closed’… 30-year-old Newcastle player’s move away falls through at the last minute

Add as preferred source on Google

A move for one Newcastle United player now appears to have fallen through at the last minute as he looks set to stay at the club.

It’s been rumoured that Besiktas have been interested in signing club captain Jamaal Lascelles this month with defender dropping back to the bench after the return of Sven Botman from injury.

However, journalist Gokmen Ozcan has now shared that the move is off after the two clubs could not agree on a deal with Newcastle believed to be demanding £3m for Lascelles.

Newcastle captain now set to stay at the club

In what has been a very dull transfer window for most clubs, Newcastle and Eddie Howe’s biggest worry has been whether or not they may lose key players which would leave them even shorter in terms of depth.

The Magpies are believed to be keen on adding a new centre-back to the squad anyway, so losing one of the few who are already at the club would be potentially disastrous if either Botman or Fabian Schar picked up an injury.

As the 30-year-old has just six months left on his current contract there was a concern that he would leave for the Turkish club on a free transfer, but it seems the club have completely ruled that out.

In his post on social media, Ozcan claimed that Newcastle were asking for £3m for Lascelles, a fee which the Turkish giants were ultimately unwilling to pay and forced them to walk away from the deal.

Newcastle can’t afford to lose anyone right now

Even if they were to receive a decent fee for someone Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson or even Lascelles, it really wouldn’t be worth it for Newcastle who would have such little time to find a replacement.

At this point in the window it looks like their best bet is to keep this current group together, get players back from injury and back one big push for the Champions League spots in the second half of the season.

The win against Aston Villa last night certainly made it feel like top four or five is still possible, even if it does seem like a big ask, but Newcastle are at their very best when they are underrestimated.

All focus for Howe will now turn to these crucial Premier League and FA Cup fixtures and he will no doubt be happy to see the back of this January window.